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Florence

Edith Maude Gudmundson Andra, 91, passed away on Monday, 18 July 2016 at her home in Stockton, Missouri, from natural causes related to age. She was born the first of two children on 21 September 1924 in Logan, Utah, to Melvin Peter and Maude Victoria Wollaston Gudmundson. She married William Fredrick Andra Jr 13 June 1947 in the Logan Utah LDS Temple. Together they had six children. William passed away in 1992. Edith married Leland Fred Williams 10 March 1999 in Arnica, Missouri. He predeceased her in 2011.

Edith grew up in Logan at 253 East 3rd South. She had one sister, Shirley, born in 1928, with who she grew up.

Shirley, Melvin, and Edith

Shirley and Edith Gudmundson

Her mother passed away in 1931 and the family had to work through those difficult years with just the three of them. She attended Wilson School and Logan Junior and Senior Schools where she graduated. She played the violin.

Logan HS Yearbook

Logan HS Yearbook

She enlisted in the Navy in Salt Lake City, Utah, 21 September 1944 and served until discharge in San Francisco, California, 1 May 1946. She trained and served as a switchboard operator for the majority of the time of her service.

After her military service, she attended Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah.

Edith in the BYU yearbook

During this time she met William Andra, who discharged from the Marines 20 June 1946. I am not aware that he attended Brigham Young University, but I know he was living in Orem and it was likely there that William and Edith met culminating in their marriage in 1947.

Edith and William Andra Marriage Portrait

Greg William was born in Preston, Idaho in 1948. Chad Fredrick was born in Preston in 1949.

By 1950, the family was living in Boise for a short time.

Edith in 1951

The family then moved back to Logan where Kent Melvin was born in 1954.

The family was living in Midvale by 1955 where Marc David was born. Then to Salt Lake City in 1956. Troy Norman was born in Providence in 1960.

Bill & Edith in Richmond for an Andra Reunion

A few years later the family moved to Smithfield. Todd Nathan was born in Smithfield in 1968.

It is in Smithfield that my mother came to know the family, since she was living in Richmond. Kent and my Mom were close in age and played together.

Larry and Mom both told me stories about William and Edith being very particular about being healthy eaters. Larry remembers Edith washing every leaf of a head of lettuce before it could be eaten. William tried to convince Larry of the unhealthy nature of bacon and milk. Nobody else seemed to care, but it would really get William and Edith upset when people would not come to their way of thinking. William was also particular about when you ate, not mixing the various parts of your food with other parts. Larry found much of this amusing.

The Andra family was a fairly tight knit family and held reunions together yearly. Relationships started to strain in 1965 when William and Edith learned and accepted polygamy leading to their excommunication from the LDS church. The Andra family relationships started to strain further after attempts to convert William’s parents and some of the siblings to polygamy. Even while William’s parents were in a nursing home late in life, there were attempts to convert them to polygamy which led to final severing ties.

I don’t know when, but the family after converting to polygamy moved to Santa Clara. Nobody in the immediate family knows when due to the severance. After many years in Santa Clara, they then moved to Cedar County, Missouri.

My first visit to Edith was in 2001. I was moving to Branson, Missouri for work and before I left Uncle Ross Andra told me Edith lived in Missouri somewhere. I do not have any memories with William and Edith and did not even know she was still alive. Ross told me I should stop and visit. I knew nothing of the divide that had come into the family.

When I stayed the night before entering Missouri in Florence, Kansas, I looked to see what I could find in the phone book. With a last name like Andra, it wasn’t hard to find who I thought was the right name in Stockton, Missouri. I called the number and it was Mary Andra, wife of Kent Andra who answered. She told me I was welcome to stop by and since their shop was a bit off the beaten path, gave me directions.

I arrived later that day and found a long lost number of cousins I never knew existed. I saw the shop, I met a number of Kent’s children, and then I was taken down to the home to meet more of the family. When I was introduced to his wife, Tammy, I thought I had already met his wife, Mary, but I assumed I must have misunderstood. I met more and more children.

Kent sent one of his daughters with me to help me find Edith’s home. I sat with Edith meeting her for the first time in my memory and chatted for quite a while. She showed me some family history, told me some sweet stories of my Grandmother Colleen, and various conversations. Edith did not know Colleen had passed away. She told me of her new marriage to Leland Williams. We parted on great terms and went back to Kent’s home, enjoyed some carrot juice, and visited.

In a funny situation, I was enjoying my carrot juice trying to keep the children’s names straight when Mary came into the house. I sat there talking with Kent, Tammy, and Mary having a good laugh. I kept wondering how I misunderstood and was unclear on who was Kent’s wife, so I asked. They stated that both were. I sat there not comprehending. I must have looked confused because they just looked at me. It then dawned on me and I made some comment like, “Well, we are family right?” I laughed, they laughed, and I think any tension or misunderstanding that may have been there melted away. That was not something I was expecting that day!

We said our goodbyes knowing that we were still family. I quite enjoyed my visit.

It was later that week I got a phone call from Edith asking me to not share names, circumstances, or anything else regarding the family because it had caused so much trouble with the rest of the family. I told her that we were family and it did not bother me and I really did not think it bothered anyone else.

I visited again in 2002. When Kent passed away in 2003, I thought they were very kind to let me know.

Amanda and I stopped in 2006 on our move from Utah to Virginia. As we drove to the boonies where they lived, she joked with me that I was going to drop her off out in the middle of nowhere. We again had a very pleasant visit with Mary, Tammy, and Edith. Amanda was prepped with the information and quickly found out nobody had multiple heads or horns. I think it was the boonies that gave her more concern than the polygamy.

I visited again in 2008 driving from Virginia through to Washington for work. That time Edith had moved to a home nearer to her son Marc. I stopped to visit Marc and Cheryl and met them for the first time. Edith also came over to the house and we visited with her. Here is a photo from that visit.

Paul Ross, Cheryl & Marc Andra, and Edith.

I tried to call Edith every other year or so. Sometimes it was hard to track her down, but I typically found her and was able to call. The last time I visited with her was when Donald was sick and dying with cancer in the spring of 2016. I asked Donald if I could let some of the extended family know. He said yes. With that, I called Edith and visited with her about Sergene’s passing and Donald’s cancer. She talked about how the family was distant and she appreciated the updates. She also indicated that life continues to pass and we all end up dealing with death at some point. She reminded me of her age and she did not know where she would be next week either.

Now she is gone.

While I know there was quite a bit of angst in the family over the beliefs and separation, but despite all that I am glad I did not know of the polygamy issues and got to know the family as just that, family. Their position, beliefs, and practices at no point directly affected me in any way. I am glad I know them!

William Stoker and the late Emma Eames Stoker are pleased to announce the marriage of their daughter Mary Ann to Milo Riley Sharp, son of William Sharp and Mary Ann Sharp. They were married in at the Episcopal Church in Plain City, Weber, Utah on 11 May 1879.

Milo is currently a farmer in Plain City.

The couple will make their home in Plain City.

Just trying to write these first three paragraphs was not easy with this family. So many twists and turns with each individual name makes it difficult to find the proper wording and fashion to form the sentences.

I struggled on whether to call Mary Ann by her other known name, Lillian Musgrave. After marriage, she was known as Lilly M Sharp. Mary Ann was born 24 February 1861 at in Reading, Berkshire, England. The family was likely living at 18 Albert Street within St. Mary’s Parish. She was the fifth and last child (some show her as the 6th of 7 children though) of William Stoker, a journeyman saddler working in Reading, and Emma Eames. Emma contracted tuberculosis (listed as phthisis on the death certificate) and passed away 28 April 1863 at the same address after a year struggle with the disease. Mary Ann never knew her mother. Her father and older sister (Alice) joined the LDS church 27 May 1863. Her older brother, William Thomas, eleven years her senior, had joined 5 December 1860.

The family wasted no time in gathering to Zion. The Stoker family departed from London on a ship called “Amazon” 4 June 1863. George Q Cannon dedicated the ship which was entirely of Saints (880+) headed for Zion. It was this same ship that Charles Dickens wrote that the Mormons were not taking misfits and scoundrels, but the “pick and flower” of England. Even George Sutherland, future U.S. Supreme Court Justice was on this ship. Here is a link to the story by Charles Dickens: The Uncommercial Traveller. The LDS church also tells of the story that day at this link: Amazon Departure. The ship sailed to Liverpool before finally heading out for America. Elijah Larkin, who would help found Larkin Mortuary, noted that on the 16th and 20th of June, Thomas Stoker was administered to due to a sickness since leaving Liverpool.

The “Amazon” landed at Castle Gardens, New York, New York on 18 July 1863. The Saints took rail to Albany, Albany, New York and then to Florence, Douglas, Nebraska through Detroit, Wayne, Michigan. From there they hoofed it on to Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah Territory arriving 3 and 4 October 1863 (depending on which of the two companies), just in time for General Conference. Several of the company wrote of Brigham Young coming out to greet them and giving them advice.

William moved almost immediately to Ogden, Weber, Utah and set up shop working with leather. William wasted no time in remarrying to Eliza Sinfield in Ogden 18 May 1864. While Mary Ann is listed as a child for William and Eliza on the 1870 Census, she was actually living with George Augustus and Victorine Jane Dix Musgrave. She is listed with their family on the 1870 Census as well. Additionally, the other children from this first marriage were also being raised by other families. Family lore indicates that William and Eliza could not afford to raise these older children and farmed them out to families that could afford to take care of them. Other evidence points that they were not all that poor, but it is not likely we will ever really know. Here are three of the sisters later in life.

Mary Ann was raised by George and Victorine Musgrave. She knew who her real father was, but had no real childhood memories of him. George Musgrave was a school teacher and musician in Plain City. George and Victorine were unable to have children and Mary Ann was probably a welcome addition in their home. Victorine had also been adopted. Although not formally adopted, George and Victorine called her Lillian Musgrave, but she grew nicknamed Lilly. The rest of her life she went by Lilly and took the Musgrave as her middle name after she married with the obvious middle initial “M”. Here is a picture of Victorine Jane Dix Musgrave. Her son, Austin, even lists his mother’s name as Lillee Musgrave.

George and Victorine knew music and taught school. Naturally, Lilly was taught the same. She ended up participating in the second dramatic association in Plain City. Some of their shows put on were, “Mistletoe Bough,” “Mickle Earl,” “Maniac Lover,” “Fruits of the Wind Cup,” “Streets of New York,” “The Two Galley Slaves,” “The Rough Diamond,” “Earnest Mall Travers,” and “Ten Knights in a Bar Room.”

All was not well in Zion during these years in Plain City. Family lore has it that when a Bishop (Lewis Shurtleff, branch president 1870-1877, bishop 1877-1883) extended himself beyond what the members felt was right, these families made sure it was known. The final straw came when Bishop Shurleff started telling the members what they would give as tithing. These were not just on the fringe members, but good standing members of the church in the area. William Sharp (Lilly’s future father-in-law) began construction on St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in 1877 for many of these disaffected members (Still standing today and owned by the Lions in Plain City). For whatever reason a significant group of members were excommunicated between 1877 and 1882. Many of Plain City’s leading members were excommunicated. Excommunicated 31 January 1879 were William Sharp (the same who built the new church), Mary Ann Sharp (William’s ex-wife, divorced in 1876, Lilly’s future mother-in-law), William Skeen, Edwin Dix, George Musgrave (Lilly’s adopted father), Thomas Musgrave, Thomas Singleton, Thomas Davis, George W Harris, Jonathan Moyes, John Moyes, Winfield Spiers, James Wadman, Robert Davis, John Davis, and Thomas Robson. These lists also have “and wife” as well as “and family” which seems to indicate that this list may have included spouses and families. Mary Ann Sharp (Lilly’s future mother-in-law) is the only woman, but perhaps because the rest were representing their families, where with the recent divorce she was not represented by William. Many of these families returned to the church after time away, some individuals never did.

While Lilly’s name is not on the list, she was probably classified with the Musgrave family. We do not have any record of her baptism, but she was with the Musgrave family attending the newly established St. Paul’s Episcopal Church. Although it seems Victorine Musgrave was excommunicated, she continued active with LDS Relief Society (or she was not excommunicated). It was during this time, Lilly also come to fall in love with Milo Riley Sharp. William Sharp, with the assistance of Milo, had also helped build the Musgrave’s new home. In St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, J. S. Gellogly married Milo and Lilly on 11 May 1879.

Milo Riley Sharp was born 23 Jul 1857 in Lehi, Utah, Utah. He was the fourth of six children born to William and Mary Ann Bailey Sharp. Mary Ann did have a child, Lorenzo Padley, from a previous marriage in which she was widowed. William and Mary Ann Sharp immigrated to Utah in 1853 after joining the LDS church in 1848 and 1846 respectively. At first they were sent to Lehi but had a number of issues with range for the cattle and some other minor squabbles. Water was also not found to be very dependable in the Lehi area. William learned of land north near Ogden that was going to be opened up from some of the Saints passing through Lehi (abandoning Salt Lake City before the arrival of Johnson’s Army). These Lehi Saints were told of ample land and good water that was available west of Ogden. A scouting expedition went to search out the area in the fall of 1858 and visited with Lorin Farr who told them of the available plain to the west. You can read more of his parents at: Sharp-Bailey Wedding.

The Sharp family left with other Lehi Saints on 10 March 1859 to travel to this new area. The group arrived 17 March 1859 at what is present day Plain City. William Sharp put his carpentry and masonry skills to work making adobe brick and helping build the first homes in Plain City. In one of these first adobe brick homes is where Milo Riley grew up. William served in the Plain City band, the Plain City Z.C.M.I. board, a builder, and a city leader. Milo’s little sister, Evelyn, was the first girl born in Plain City in October 1859.

Milo’s mother, Mary Ann Bailey Sharp, moved out on Christmas Eve 1875 and refused to come back to William. William sued for divorce and Franklin D. Richards granted the divorce (in probate court) on 19 May 1876.

Milo Riley Sharp as a young man

As mentioned earlier, the Sharp’s also had a falling out with the LDS church and were excommunicated the same day as the Musgrave family. Since there were not loads of people in Plain City, Lilly and Milo knew each other. The conditions in the community, their respective families excommunication, probably help to forge the commonalities they had and led to their marriage.

Milo kept busy working with his father building homes and other masonry and carpentry work. He also had time to play first base at baseball and played on Plain City’s first baseball team. The team could beat all the other northern Utah teams except Salt Lake.

The marriage of Milo and Lilly eventually produced a quiver of 12 children. Milo Ray on 29 February 1880. George was born 2 August 1881 and passed the same day. Effie was born 6 June 1882 and died 6 September 1883. Delwin arrived 30 June 1884. Ernest and Austin came 7 Jan 1886. Edward William appeared 25 October 1887. Victorine showed 23 November 1889 and later married Fredrick Lawrence Hunt. Mary Irene materialized 26 June 1892 and married Oscar “Os” Child Richardson. Edith dawned 4 February 1895 and married Clements Richard Martin. Ethel was born 9 April 1898 and I have written of her at this link: Ross-Sharp Wedding. Emily appeared 5 April 1900 and quickly extinguished 31 July 1900. Nine of the children lived to adulthood and 8 of those married and had children.

Milo built a new home for the family early on so the family had room to grow. He added to it as more room was needed as you can see in this photo. We do not know the year it was originally built, but we know the children after 1888 were born in this home. The home’s address is 2897 N. 4200 W. in Plain City.

Milo successfully farmed all of these years. He kept busy with civic affairs. He was elected constable of Plain City on the Republican ticket in 1891. In 1893, he sat on a committee to investigate the incorporating of Plain City, although it was not incorporated until 1944 with grandson William Albert Sharp serving on the town board. Milo and Lilly were singers and continued to play in the Plain City bands. Lilly was also well-known for her poetry. In 1911, Milo finished building a new home, pictured below (address is 2771 N. 4200 W. in Plain City). Milo farmed hard until he caught influenza and eventually pneumonia passing away at the early age of 59 at 9:30 a.m. 24 June 1916 at his sister’s home, Victoria Maw, who lived at 5 Warren Court (which I believe may now be Warren Row or Lane in Ogden). His funeral was held in the little church he helped his father build, St. Paul’s Episcopal Church on 27 June 1916.

Lilly lived in this home until she passed away in 1935. Her son, Ernest Sharp, never married and helped take care of her and then lived the rest of his life in the home (he died in 1967). Milo James Ross, Lilly’s grandson, purchased the home at that time and later transferred it to his daughter, Caroline.

Lilly kept a clean home. The grandsons were taught to stop by every time they passed, especially to and from school. This permitted dishes to be washed, wood to be hauled, and wood to be split. Lilly had a strict regimen for cleaning pots, dishes, and pans (especially bedpans). This included the outdoor pump station, even with lye to remove odors. The boys knew to take special care not to make a mess when carrying fire wood or in any other way on entering the home. The gate was always to be closed, whether coming or going. While this might seem stern, she always opened the door for those coming and going and gave them a warm smile.

Mary Ann Stoker Sharp

Lilly often made bread, keeping her own live yeast, often from warm potato water. She had her own milk separator and used it. The boys helped make butter and she treated the boys to buttermilk and warm bread. She would also warm apples in the oven to share or dried fruit. She kept a full root cellar with homemade cured meats, dried fruits, and bottled vegetables. The Sharp family had onions that could be used to flavor soups and other needs. Many of the family still grow these onions even until today. Many mushrooms and water crest were gathered too.

Lilly often had kind words and a warm, gracious smile. She kept a small table in the pantry where she brushed her teeth with salt, baking soda, and a bar of soap. The bucket was always there with a drinking cup and a ladle to draw water. She was thin and tall. She wore long dresses from her neck to her feet with shoes that went up about six inches. She kept her hair rolled in the back of her head held with a comb with long teeth. If she was not thin enough, she wore a corset to make her look even smaller. She was very neat and proud in her appearance.

She kept a spinning wheel in the home for the times when she would spin wool into thread. She also had the grandsons help turn her mattress from time to time. She did not leave the house much in her later years unless she had a ride, but even then did not stay long before going home. It was clear she enjoyed watching her grandchildren. The last decade or so of her life, she had to use a hearing tube to hear. Some of her grandchildren joked that it was like using the telephone, just you could see who was on the other end.

Lilly passed at 10:55 p.m. at her daughter’s home, Victorine Hunt, 6 May 1935 of hypertension with chronic major carditis and pneumonia. She had remained faithfully active in the Episcopal Church until she could not get around very much. Later in life she needed assistance as she could not walk very far. Her funeral was held in the Plain City LDS chapel with Rev. John W. Hyslop officiating on 9 May 1935. She was buried with Milo in the Plain City Cemetery.